<< My understanding, from Bill Bennett to the guy (Hirsch?) who wrote
that series of books of what "Every First Grader, Second Grader, etc. Should
Know, is that the right-wing would be all for having such standards. Just
not set by the federal government - THEY want to be the ones to set the
standards!>>

I think one right-wing objection is that all those "crazy liberals" will be
writing the standards. The other (more legitimate) one might be that the
goal is mediocrity for everyone, rather than a bell curve type of result.